John 13: 1-5

This is a wonderful passage of the Bible, one full of quite a lot of information for our lives.  It starts out describing the scene of Jesus with His disciples in the upper room.  One thing to note is that Jesus knew what was coming next and really felt for His disciples. 

“Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus knowing that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto his Father, having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” John 13: 1 (ASV)

He wanted to teach them the art of servant hood and wanted to do it in a powerful way.  He could have sat and preached to them, as so many of us like to do.  But He knew that they needed more than a sermon.  Let’s look at the mind of the disciples at this time.

First off we read in Matthew 20:21,22 what mind set the disciples were in. 

“Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him.  And He said to her, “What do you whish?”  She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom”.  Matthew 20:21,22 (NIV)

As you can see from this passage the disciples were positioning themselves to see who was the greatest.  When the others heard about what the Son’s of Zebedee did, they were very agree for they all wanted to be first.  You can read this in Mathew 20:24.  It is interesting in Matthew that he mentions that it was the mother of the brothers that asked Jesus this.  In Mark 10: 35,36,37 it does not mention the mother but just the brothers James and John, either way they were positioning themselves. 

Again in Mark we see:

“Then He came to Capernaum.  And when He was in the house He asked them, what was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?  But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.“  Mark 9: 33,34 (NIV)

So as you can see the disciples were in need of a lesson on humility and servant hood.  But as Jesus knew His time was short, He needed to find a way to teach servant hood and not preach it.  As you will see in the next few verses of John 13 He found a powerful way of teaching this.

But there is one more element that we see from John 13 that must be understood.  Satan had already entered into Judas to betray Jesus.

“…the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's `son', to betray him…”  John 13, 2a (ASV)

The disciples are demonstrating pride and missing the point, one of them has been indwelled by Satan to betray Jesus, Jesus needs to act to break through as again time is short.

Jesus does something special to teach His disciples about servant hood, and more, as we will see further.  In John 13: 3,4, and 5, He takes off His outer clothes and puts a towel around His waste and starts to wash His disciple’s feet.  The feet are dirty and in this day and age the only person that washes the feet of another is a servant or slave.  None of the disciples volunteered for this duty, they are still wondering who is the greatest.  Jesus, God’s own Son, God of the Universe, took a towel, bent down to each disciple and washed their feet.  I am sure that the significance here was not really known by the disciples at this moment, other than humility because Jesus did this for them, but after His death and resurrection along with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit they knew what this act meant and took it to heart.

Sometimes the best way to preach to someone is by doing.  Becoming an example of God’s love to another person is the best way to show them who Jesus really is.  This may be the only way to break through some people’s walls.

Another aspect of what Jesus was teaching His disciples was a pictorial of the Gospel – or Salvation.  When Jesus came to Peter in John 13:6 Peter did not want Jesus to wash his feet.  He obviously was ashamed that he did not volunteer and did not want the humiliation of Jesus washing His feet.  In Matthew Peter acknowledged that Jesus is the Christ, so how can he now sit there and allow Jesus to wash his feet.  How humiliating this would be to allow Jesus, the Son of God to wash your feet just because you were too proud to volunteer yourself.

It was at this point that Jesus used Peters reaction for another lesson, this time on what Salvation is.

“So he cometh to Simon Peter. He saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt understand hereafter.⁸Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.⁹Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.¹⁰Jesus saith to him, He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.” John 13:6-10 (ASV)

This is a picture of salvation through Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Basically, Jesus is saying to Peter that if he does not allow Jesus to wash him then he will not be able to be with Jesus, in heaven.  Jesus is not talking about washing the feet but the washing of you Sins away.  Jesus stated in verses 10 says that all are clean except one, that is a representation of belief in who Jesus is and Salvation.  When we are saved we are clean in our spirit based on Christ’s washing of our sins away, which is symbolized by the washing of the feet, the washing of our flesh or sin.